US Strikes Iran Over Hormuz Ship Attack, Tests
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- US Central Command struck missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites in Iran on Friday (Jun 26) in retaliation for a drone attack on a Singapore-registered cargo ship operated by Taiwan's Evergreen Marine Corp off the coast of Oman.
- Trump said the drone attack — 'actually four of them' — violated the ceasefire, and described Iran as 'a little bit different' when pressed on why strikes came despite his insistence that talks with Tehran are going well.
- Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned their response would be 'swift and decisive' and claimed to have repelled an attack on Sirik Island, while parliament national security chief Ebrahim Azizi said 'the Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran' and called the ship attack 'ceasefire management, not a violation.'
- The IMO halted its operation to evacuate roughly 500 stranded ships after the attack; about 115 vessels had already exited the strait via an alternative Oman-hugging route before evacuations were suspended.
- Shipping analysts noted a sharp slowdown in normalization — 43 transits recorded after the incident versus 78 vessels on Wednesday (the highest since the war began), still well below prewar averages of 130+ per day.
- At least two tankers reversed course on the UN-backed route near Oman after Iran insisted vessels use only Tehran-approved routes, per Lloyd's List Intelligence.
Why it matters: With roughly 500 ships still stranded and tanker transits falling from 78 on Wednesday to 43 after the attack, the US-Iran interim deal's centerpiece — reopening the Strait of Hormuz — just became materially harder. Iran's parallel claim that striking the ship constitutes 'ceasefire management' means both sides now define compliance unilaterally, leaving the 60-day negotiation window structurally fragile.
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